[mrustow]

See also:

The Berlin Wall and the Price of Freedom

A World of Enemies -- is It All Reagan'sFault?

[Jim Noble]

>>The socialists and communists believed in it, because they believed in the Marxist theory of history, according to which socialism was inevitable<<

A lot of congressthings on "our side" act like they believe it, too.

[ClearCase_guy]

I've never understood the whole Best and Brightest thing.

In 1995, former secretary of defense Robert McNamara announced in his memoir, In Retrospect, that he had secretly known, during the Johnson Administration, that we could not win in Vietnam, and needed to pull out.

Okay. We beat Nazi Germany, and beat Imperial Japan simultaneously. But it was just flat-out impossible to beat North Vietnam. Even after the Tet Offensive, in which the Viet Cong were virtually wiped out and the Communists had nothing else up their sleeve (except Jane Fonda), it was just flat-out impossible to beat North Vietnam.

This is a defeatist attitude that an intelligent decision-maker in Washington should have been ashamed to admit to owning.

[expatpat]

Rather than talk about the South Vietnamese Army's lack of heart, Americans expressed awe of the Viet Cong guerrillas operating in South Vietnam, who never quit. People tended to interpret the VC's relentless will to fight as being based on their absolute belief in communism. I think, however, that the VC were simply stone killers who believed in nothing in particular, but that totalitarianism – any brand will do – encourages those in power to be conscienceless stone-killers.

I think the VC were motivated by the fact that they were to a large extent fighting for their homeland. People, and animals, will fight much more intensely for their own territory than for other things.

[uncbuck]

"...the impossibility of our succeeding in South Vietnam may sound so obvious today to young people and tenured academics..."

Since there is a McDonalds in Hanoi, selling Coca-Cola, did the USA actually not succeed in defeating communism?

I think not. McD's and Coke are two of the greatest symbols of American Capitalism. Therfore I propose that the USA won the Vietnam War.

[AZLiberty]

The American observers who said that the VC did not value life ? Vietnamese or American ? were right. The South Vietnamese soldiers, on the other hand, did not want to die.

We face the same question today: how does a culture of life defeat a culture of death? Even a culture of life must risk death to preserve itself. Fortunately, as the Soviets discovered this culture of life provides the wealth, the technology, and the intelligence to defeat the enemy at acceptable cost. It only takes the will.

[mrustow]

FYI

[mrustow]

FYI

[mrustow]

FYI

[mrustow]

FYI

[mrustow]

FYI

[hattend]

BTTT

[GOPJ]

Do you think victims in totalitarian situations develop a powerless stance that makes their response to torture different?

Osama has said the Americans are fearful. I suspect this means that when tortured, Americans want to live -- whereas his totalitarian conditioned victims just want it over with. Is being resigned to the horrors of life a sign of strength or of unbelievable despair? Imbued followers, imbued victims...

The totalitarian ideology imbues its followers with a belief in their own omnipotence, which derives from the apparent omnipotence of their state. (Apparent, that is, until proven otherwise.) The American observers who said that the VC did not value life – Vietnamese or American – were right. The South Vietnamese soldiers, on the other hand, did not want to die.